Microsoft PowerPoint - store_design_layout_visual

Store Layout, Design &
Visual Merchandising

Angela D’Auria Stanton, Ph.D.

“Shopper found dead in local
store; cause of death – boredom”

Stanley Marcus, Chairman-Emeritus, Neiman Marcus

No other variable in the retailing mix influences the consumer’s initial
perceptions of a bricks & mortar retailer as much as the store itself.

The store is “where the action is” and includes such minor details as
the placement of the merchandise.

Objectives of the Store Environment

Get customers into the store (store image)

Serves a critical role in the store selection process

Important criteria include cleanliness, labeled prices, accurate and pleasant

checkout clerks, and well-stocked shelves

The store itself makes the most significant and last impression

Once they are inside the store, convert them into customers

buying merchandise (space productivity)

The more merchandise customers are exposed to that is presented in an

orderly manner, the more they tend to buy

Retailers focusing more attention on in-store marketing – marketing dollars

spent in the store, in the form of store design, merchandise presentation,

visual displays, and in-store promotions, should lead to greater sales and

profits (bottom line: it is easier to get a consumer in your store to buy more

merchandise than planned than to get a new consumer to come into your

store)

Objectives of Good Store Design

Design should:

be consistent with image and strategy

positively influence consumer behavior

consider costs versus value

be flexible

recognize the needs of the disabled – The
Americans with Disabilities Act

Types of Floor Space in Store

Back Room – receiving area, stockroom

Department stores (50%)

Small specialty and convenience stores (10%)

General merchandise stores (15-20%)

Offices and Other Functional Space – employee break room,

store offices, cash office, restrooms

Aisles, Service Areas and Other Non-Selling Areas

Moving shoppers through the store, dressing rooms, layaway

areas, service desks, customer service facilities

Merchandise Space

Floor

Wall

Store Layout (and Traffic Flow)

Conflicting objectives:

Ease of finding merchandise versus varied and
interesting layout

Giving customers adequate space to shop versus
use expensive space productively

Grid (Straight) Design

• Best used in retail environments
in which majority of customers
shop the entire store

• Can be confusing and frustrating
because it is difficult to see over
the fixtures to other merchandise

• Should be employed carefully;
forcing customers to back of large
store may frustrate and cause
them to look elsewhere

• Most familiar examples for
supermarkets and drugstores

Curving/Loop (Racetrack) Design

• Major customer aisle(s) begins at
entrance, loops through the store
(usually in shape of circle, square
or rectangle) and returns customer
to front of store

• Exposes shoppers to the greatest
possible amount of merchandise by
encouraging browsing and cross-
shopping

Free-Flow Layout

•

Fixtures and

merchandise grouped
into free-flowing
patterns on the sales
floor – no defined
traffic pattern

• Works best in small
stores (under 5,000
square feet) in which
customers wish to
browse

• Works best when
merchandise is of the
same type, such as
fashion apparel

• If there is a great
variety of
merchandise, fails to
provide cues as to
where one department
stops and another
starts

Storage, Receiving, Marketing

Underwear

Dressing Rooms

Checkout counter

Clearance

Items

Feature

Jeans Cas

ual

ear

Sto

ckings

Accessories

Pants

Skirts and Dresses

Hats

d Handbags

Open Display Window

Spine Layout

• Variation of grid, loop and free-form
layouts

• Based on single main aisle running from
the front to the back of the store
(transporting customers in both directions)

• On either side of spine, merchandise
departments branch off toward the back or
side walls

• Heavily used by medium-sized specialty
stores ranging from 2,000 – 10,000 square
feet

• In fashion stores the spine is often subtly
offset by a change in floor coloring or
surface and is not perceived as an aisle

Location of Departments

Relative location advantages

Impulse products

Demand/destination areas

Seasonal needs

Physical characteristics of merchandise

Adjacent departments

Feature Areas

The areas within a store designed to get the
customer’s attention which include:

End caps – displays located at the end of the
aisles

Promotional aisle/area

Freestanding fixtures

Windows

Walls

Point-of-sale (POS) displays/areas

Fixture Types

Straight Rack – long pipe suspended

with supports to the floor or attached

to a wall

Gondola – large base with a vertical

spine or wall fitted with sockets or

notches into which a variety of

shelves, peghooks, bins, baskets and

other hardware can be inserted.

Four-way Fixture – two crossbars that

sit perpendicular to each other on a

pedestal

Round Rack – round fixture that sits

on pedestal

Other common fixtures: tables, large

bins, flat-based decks

Fixture Types

Wall Fixtures

To make store’s wall
merchandisable, wall usually
covered with a skin that is fitted
with vertical columns of
notches similar to those on a
gondola, into which a variety of
hardware can be inserted

Can be merchandised much
higher than floor fixtures (max
of 42” on floor for round racks
on wall can be as high as 72”

Merchandise Display Planning

Shelving – flexible, easy to maintain

Hanging

Pegging – small rods inserted into gondolas or wall systems – can be labor

intensive to display/maintain but gives neat/orderly appearance

Folding – for softlines can be folded and stacked on shelves or tables - creates

high fashion image

Stacking – for large hardlines can be stacked on shelves, base decks of

gondolas or flats – easy to maintain and gives image of high volume and low

price

Dumping – large quantities of small merchandise can be dumped into baskets or

bins – highly effective for softlines (socks, wash cloths) or hardlines (batteries,

candy, grocery products) – creates high volume, low cost image

Three Psychological Factors to
Consider in Merchandising Stores

Value/fashion image

Trendy, exclusive, pricy vs value-oriented

Angles and Sightlines

Customers view store at 45 degree angles from the path they

travel as they move through the store

Most stores set up at right angles because it’s easier and

consumes less space

Vertical color blocking

Merchandise should be displayed in vertical bands of color

wherever possible – will be viewed as rainbow of colors if each

item displayed vertically by color

Creates strong visual effect that shoppers are exposed to more

merchandise (which increases sales)

POS Displays

Assortment display – open and

closed assortment

Theme-setting display

Ensemble display

Rack display

Case display

Cut case

Dump bin

Visual Merchandising

The artistic display of merchandise and theatrical props used as

scene-setting decoration in the store

Several key characteristics

Not associated with shop-able fixture but located as a focal point

or other area remote from the on-shelf merchandising (and

perhaps out of the reach of customers)

Use of props and elements in addition to merchandise – visuals

don’t always include merchandise; may just be interesting display

of items related to merchandise or to mood retailer wishes to

create

Visuals should incorporate relevant merchandise to be most

effective

Retailers should make sure displays don’t create walls that make

it difficult for shoppers to reach other areas of the store

StoreFront Design

Storefronts must:

Clearly identify the name and general nature of
the store

Give some hint as to the merchandise inside

Includes all exterior signage

In many cases includes store windows – an
advertising medium for the store – window
displays should be changed often, be fun/exciting,
and reflect merchandise offered inside

Atmospherics

The design of an environment via:

visual communications

lighting

color

sound

scent

to stimulate customers’ perceptual and emotional responses and

ultimately influence their purchase behavior

Visual Communications

Name, logo and retail identity

Institutional signage

Directional, departmental and category signage

Point-of-Sale (POS) Signage

Lifestyle Graphics

Visual Communications

Coordinate signs and graphics with store’s
image

Inform the customer

Use signs and graphics as props

Keep signs and graphics fresh

Limit sign copy

Use appropriate typefaces on signs

Create theatrical effects

Lighting

Important but often overlooked element in
successful store design

Highlight merchandise

Capture a mood

Level of light can make a difference

Blockbuster

Fashion Departments

Color

Can influence behavior

Warm colors increase blood pressure, respiratory rate
and other physiological responses – attract customers
and gain attention but can also be distracting

Cool colors are relaxing, peaceful, calm and pleasant
– effective for retailers selling anxiety-causing
products

Sound & Scent

Sound

Music viewed as valuable marketing tool

Often customized to customer demographics - AIE
(

http://www.aeimusic.com

)

Can use volume and tempo for crowd control

Scent

Smell has a large impact on our emotions

Victoria Secret, The Magic Kingdom, The Knot Shop

Can be administered through time release atomizers or via
fragrance-soaked pellets placed on light fixtures